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KEGL

to recap, in August of 2022, The Treehouse (the renamed Russ Martin Show after Russ' death in 2021, which had to overcome not only Russ' death but Clo being arrest on possession of Child Porn thus outting him as a pedophile in the process) were let go from KEGL due to iHeart budget cuts and a dramatic rating decline and at the same time preparing to blow the station up, then in October, the station was blown up from it's format and flipped to Sports/Hot Talk as "97.1 The Freak", meanwhile, the Rock music format and "The Eagle" branding moved over to the HD Radio subchannel, and also streaming on iHeart app as well. The Eagle has had a big rating decline in the final months of the rock format dating to even before Russ Martin's death.
 
Will_H_69_9 said:
to recap, in August of 2022, The Treehouse (the renamed Russ Martin Show after Russ' death in 2021, which had to overcome not only Russ' death but Clo being arrest on possession of Child Porn thus outting him as a pedophile in the process) were let go from KEGL due to iHeart budget cuts and a dramatic rating decline and at the same time preparing to blow the station up, then in October, the station was blown up from it's format and flipped to Sports/Hot Talk as "97.1 The Freak", meanwhile, the Rock music format and "The Eagle" branding moved over to the HD Radio subchannel, and also streaming on iHeart app as well. The Eagle has had a big rating decline in the final months of the rock format dating to even before Russ Martin's death.
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Lest we forget that the moments leading up to The Freak's debut by stunting with songs associated with "freak" such as Whodini's "Freaks Come Out At Night," Chic's "Le Freak," Missy Elliott's "Get Your Freak On," and Rick James' "Super Freak" (and not Korn's "Freak On A Leash" surprisingly).

Alt 103.7 somewhat contributed with The Eagle's demise as well. Eagle was already playing bands that weren't commonly known during their heyday (i.e Blink 182, Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, etc.) but better known on The Edge. Alt was in the gutter a couple of years ago with Tik-Tok "bands," talk shows from LA and KC, and less alternative. After their low ratings, Alt changed to play more music, specifically harder-edged bands that The Edge played (that Eagle was already playing) and took most, if not all, of Eagle's listeners (just minus the Ozzy and Metallica(?)). So to summarize, Eagle was up and Alt was down. Now The Eagle went down and away, and Alt went up.
 
E-Cam said:
Lest we forget that the moments leading up to The Freak's debut by stunting with songs associated with "freak" such as Whodini's "Freaks Come Out At Night," Chic's "Le Freak," Missy Elliott's "Get Your Freak On," and Rick James' "Super Freak" (and not Korn's "Freak On A Leash" surprisingly).

Alt 103.7 somewhat contributed with The Eagle's demise as well. Eagle was already playing bands that weren't commonly known during their heyday (i.e Blink 182, Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, etc.) but better known on The Edge. Alt was in the gutter a couple of years ago with Tik-Tok "bands," talk shows from LA and KC, and less alternative. After their low ratings, Alt changed to play more music, specifically harder-edged bands that The Edge played (that Eagle was already playing) and took most, if not all, of Eagle's listeners (just minus the Ozzy and Metallica(?)). So to summarize, Eagle was up and Alt was down. Now The Eagle went down and away, and Alt went up.
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I suspect the reason why "Freak on a Leash" was excluded was because "rock music bad and freak talk good". That's all I got, I don't know why they would miss out on such an easy layup, but then again we're talking about The Freak.

Good summary, but the key factor you missed was John Allers. KVIL was near-death before he became KVIL's PD. Very quietly during the holiday book, Allers altered KVIL's playlist to be harder-edged while phasing out the Tik-Tok artists and the outsourced shows. Listeners began noticing during the January book and KVIL's ratings rapidly started going up while KEGL's quickly plunged into the gutter. While KVIL never played Ozzy or Metallica, KVIL did start featuring a large number of 90's/00's heavy alt-rock and alt-metal hitmakers as a core element of their gold selection, most of whom were KEGL regulars. Many of them remain on KVIL's playlist to this day. KVIL also shifted their currents selection to being heavier than the average Audacy, though not to the extent of KPNT or WCYY. (EDIT: The general rule of thumb is an Active Rock artist being given a hard push to Alternative will be added by KVIL, but KVIL will not add Active Rock artists out of their own volition).

It can't be overstated how much Allers' playlist alteration damaged KEGL and lifted KVIL. The change to each station's fortunes was almost overnight, it was that fast, and that was before The Treehouse was permanently broken by the Flo revelations. It indicates major listener frustration with KEGL that likely had persisted for a long time.

I think KEGL's half-hearted incorporation of big 2010's alternative artists also played into their downfall, as their core listeners started getting used to the likes of Imagine Dragons, Twenty-One Pilots, and blink-182. When KVIL started playing the heavy alt-rock and alt-metal golds instead of the Tik-Tok stuff, the core rock listeners had an easy alternative where they didn't have to put up with KEGL's increasing emphasis on chatter and sports. Because they had gotten used to KVIL's core artists due to KEGL playing them too, it reduced the cultural and musical shock.
 
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KEGL could have contracts they have to fulfill with some of their talk hosts that could be preventing them from making any changes.

As bad as 97.1 has performed, I’m not surprised iHeart hasn’t made any changes yet. They REALLY talked this up at launch and I expect them to keep going with it until it’s absolutely no longer feasible. I’ll be surprised if it’s still around in its current state in a year.
 
i need to buy a lottery ticket before the day ends. The only question I have, why wait? Just flip the switch now and build momentum going into a Mavericks playoff game in a series theyre most likely to win?
 
Perhaps the thinking is cume will be (relatively) high during the playoff run, so why not take advantage of that fact to introduce 97.1's new programming?
 
Agree that any change is going to do better than this has, and will likely be cheaper for iHeart to operate.

The Freak was a disaster. It was a half hearted effort from the beginning, not that I think giving it their absolute all would have been much, if any more successful.
 
and with the rumor flip, makes you wonder, did the Dallas Mavericks' radio deal expired and they decided they moving stations, and i wouldn't be surprised if they moved over to WBAP, KLIF, KTCK or KLRD (either the AM News/Talk or the FM Sports Talk station) for 2024-2025 and beyond.
 
If the Mavericks made any sort of broadcasting change, ESPECIALLY during a playoff run, you can bet every cent you would’ve heard them promoting it by now on their social media feeds and elsewhere. The Mavs aren’t moving. This is likely iHeart making moves partly in order to KEEP the Mavs.
 
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